1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed generally to a system and method for assigning identification codes to controllers connected to a communication network. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a system and method for assigning identification codes to controllers adapted to control water heaters, air heating and cooling devices, home comfort devices and other appliances where the controllers are connected to a communication network.
2. Background Art
In a conventional means for identifying controllers in a network environment without a router, the controllers functionally connected to the network may be preprogrammed to start their identification routines at different times from the moments they are powered up. Therefore, in such controllers, the time at which each controller is identified must be preprogrammed to be unique among the networked controllers or a conflict may occur as an identification code assigned to a controller may not be unique. In some cases, unique identification codes may also be assigned to each controller manually. These preprogrammed and/or manual steps may be eliminated if each controller is able to automatically generate and assign a unique identification code to itself.
European Pat. No. 1271848 to Shintani et al. (hereinafter Shintani) discloses a system where a unique identification code is given to each appliance in each sub-network of a home network. One router is used as a parent router and only the router is made to manage the identification codes (IDs). The IDs include the IDs of the sub-networks and the IDs of the appliances in the sub-networks. Information about the year when an ID is assigned is given to the ID. After a certain period of time, the presence of each ID is checked. Each appliance has information about the grade of the system, and the information is utilized for updating the appliance having a router function when an appliance is newly installed. Shintani requires a separate router for generating and reporting identification codes while in the present assignment system self-assigns a unique identification number, thereby requiring no additional hardware or software for achieving such purpose.
Thus, there arises a need for a means for automatically identifying discrete controllers within a communication network to facilitate communication between such controllers where such means does not require one or more manual steps to accomplish, an external router or hardware or embedding a serial number at the time of manufacturing of the controllers.